Labour party caused it ,Brexit will fix it

[Nick]

Maybe it is a slang term for a black member of MI5 ?

Can we desist with alluding to the black connotation please Borky, it is an offensive term that many don't like.  

[Nick]

Nick that you allege you have no idea that spook is slang for spy, MI5/MI6 operative or any other governments secret services is frankly laughable and I don't believe you.

You've shown an American connection only, and the fact you've never heard the derogatory term shows you quite clearly live under a rock. 

[Borchester]

Nick that you allege you have no idea that spook is slang for spy, MI5/MI6 operative or any other governments secret services is frankly laughable and I don't believe you.

Maybe it is a slang term for a black member of MI5 ?

[papasmurf]

Squirm?

Im not wasting my energy picking out anything relevant from that. If you cant format a post correctly don't expect a response.

Nick that you allege you have no idea that spook is slang for spy, MI5/MI6 operative or any other governments secret services is frankly laughable and I don't believe you.

[HDQQ]

Labour deserted the working man when it allowed free movement of EU nationals . Why did a party that was in cahoots with the unions a party that was born of the unions destroy the unionisation of the British workforce ?

Supporters of the  EU liked to claim it was a market of 500 million people to which we could sell our goods but this was far from the truth . Over 80% of our exports to the eu have always been to the same 8 countries that were members when we joined in 1973 . Those countries had /have simlar living standards so saw no reason to migrate on mass to find well paid work

So it wasn't an export market it was a labour market , cheap labour from former soviet countries where living standards were far below those in the UK and where its workers were used to being treated appallingly .
I experianced it myself when overnight pay was stopped for various reasons in the construction industry , the EU workers were used to it and as a now minority we (the brits) had to suffer the same .

Nothing destroyed the unionisation of labour more than free movement of poor people and its no suprise that now the fear of being replaced by a cheaper worker has been removed by Brexit that we are seeing the strikes by various sections of the workforce .

After 20 years of fearing asking for a pay rise would result in being replaced the workers are fighting b

The miners' strike is what destroyed the unions. Britain's highest paid organised workers didn't like other groups catching up with their pay, and led by a left-wing revolutionary who wanted to bring down the Thatcher government, they went on strike. They lost and that led to the run down of the coal industry and the demise of union power.  Now, of course, for environmental reasons it's a bad idea to burn coal so in a sense, with hindsight, Thatcher and Scargill in the 1980s made closing down the coal industry in the 2000's a lot easier.

[Nick]

Nick you can squirm all you like, you must be one of the few people in Britain who does not know spook has been used for security services like MI5/MI6 and foreign countries secret services for a very long time now. All of my 74 years at least. My wife and I have been playing "spot the spook" for more years than we have been married (45 years.)

Squirm?

Im not wasting my energy picking out anything relevant from that. If you cant format a post correctly don't expect a response.



Perhaps turn your PC up to gas mark 6 or enable all the stuff you've turned off. 

[papasmurf]

I'm not even attempting to read that nonsense, it's all over the place.

Nick you can squirm all you like, you must be one of the few people in Britain who does not know spook has been used for security services like MI5/MI6 and foreign countries secret services for a very long time now. All of my 74 years at least. My wife and I have been playing "spot the spook" for more years than we have been married (45 years.)

[Nick]

I'm not even attempting to read that nonsense, it's all over the place. 

[papasmurf]

But you can't find any links referencing it to MI5 or MI6.

I already have provided links.
Nick you really are beyond the pale, and frankly are being perverse. You must have led a VERY sheltered life not to know spook is common parlance for spy from a government (any countries government,) security services departments.
It has been in common usage for all of my life and longer. 

Urban Dictionary: spooks

1. [color=rgb(19 79 230 / var(--tw-text-opacity))]Government intelligence[/iurl] agents, see [color=rgb(19 79 230 / var(--tw-text-opacity))]G-men[/color].

2. Anyone involved in [color=rgb(19 79 230 / var(--tw-text-opacity))]espionage[/color].[/font][/size][/color]

1. Careful on this phone line, there could be spooks listening in.

2. I heard this place was [color=rgb(19 79 230 / var(--tw-text-opacity))]crawling with[/iurl] spooks, some kind of [color=rgb(19 79 230 / var(--tw-text-opacity))]weapon of mass destruction[/color] is being [color=rgb(19 79 230 / var(--tw-text-opacity))]sold[/color] or something.[/i][/font][/size][/color]

[Nick]

Nick, Spook is used for ANY countries security services, I had already explained that. How you manage to be so far out of touch is puzzling.
"Spooks" turned up at folk clubs I used to go to in the 1960s to check on us "dangerous subversives" listening to ban the bomb and ant-war songs. (I met Buffy St Marie back in the day when she was touring British Folk clubs.) It was a joke then and is still is. Although in recent years working class background spooks have been recruited and they are a bit more difficult to spot.

But you can't find any links referencing it to MI5 or MI6. 

[Borchester]

Dunno.

Whenever I have taken a cab to Millbank the driver always ask if I want to go to Spooks Hall. If they talk about a blacks they call them schwarters

Of course, that is when I take a black cab which should properly be called a schwartzer cab

[papasmurf]

Last time I looked MI5 didn't operate in the USA or Oz, and that's all you've done, reference American and Australian meanings.

Nick, Spook is used for ANY countries security services, I had already explained that. How you manage to be so far out of touch is puzzling.
"Spooks" turned up at folk clubs I used to go to in the 1960s to check on us "dangerous subversives" listening to ban the bomb and ant-war songs. (I met Buffy St Marie back in the day when she was touring British Folk clubs.) It was a joke then and is still is. Although in recent years working class background spooks have been recruited and they are a bit more difficult to spot.

[Nick]

Nick the TV program was named after the common usage, for MI5/MI6 and other countries security services (I am 74 and it has been in use a lot longer than that.)

The earliest usage I can find is 1942.

etymology - Why are spies called "spooks"? - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

From the OED:

This suggests the word would be mainly used in reference to American spies, but I think the 1954 reference is Australians talking about constables, so at least occasionally it has referred to any undercover person.

Not much information on why exactly the word was chosen, but it probably was an easy jump from "ghost that haunts people" to "mysterious secret agent who spies on people".

Last time I looked MI5 didn't operate in the USA or Oz, and that's all you've done, reference American and Australian meanings.

[Borchester]

No I suppose not , maybe I was being unkind Spooks was a derogatory term used to describe black people . It origonated in the US where Black people were said due to their  colour were less visable in the dark and would 'spook' the white white folk when passing in the street . There  were also some referances to a black fighter squadron that was labled the Spookwaffe .

So to some (me included ) when you say the spooks are after you I think of Black people before I think of some TV show / government agency who have taken the title from the origional meaning of the words usage . Maybe its being brought up in London but for me a Spook will always be a black guy though I wouldnt use the term myself , you did .
The racist history of the word "spook." | Boing Boing

Dunno.

Whenever I have taken a cab to Millbank the driver always ask if I want to go to Spooks Hall. If they talk about a blacks they call them schwarters

[papasmurf]

Spooks was just a TV program about MI5, they're not normally referred to by that name. They're know as the sneaky beaky.

Nick the TV program was named after the common usage, for MI5/MI6 and other countries security services (I am 74 and it has been in use a lot longer than that.)

The earliest usage I can find is 1942.

etymology - Why are spies called "spooks"? - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange

From the OED:

[color=var(--black-600)]slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.). An undercover agent; a spy.
1942 BERREY & VAN DEN BARK Amer. Thes. Slang §458/16 'Spotter.' (One who spys upon employees.).. Silent eye, spook, spotter. Ibid. §765/7 Rat, rubber heel, spook, spotter, a person employed to detect irregularities. 1954 People (Austral.) 3 Nov. 24/1 The spooks were senior constables who wore no uniform, worked in pairs and followed constables about the city and suburbs to see if they did their work properly. 1961 John o' London's 20 Apr. 434/1 The idea of making a living as a spy 'spook' in current Washington slang is repugnant to most of us. 1966 R. THOMAS Spy in Vodka (1967) vi. 50 I'd like him to get out of the spook business. 1979 L. PRYOR Viper i. 9 'My training was also in espionage at the CIA farm.'.. 'A spook,' I said in wonder.[/color]

This suggests the word would be mainly used in reference to American spies, but I think the 1954 reference is Australians talking about constables, so at least occasionally it has referred to any undercover person.

Not much information on why exactly the word was chosen, but it probably was an easy jump from "ghost that haunts people" to "mysterious secret agent who spies on people".